§ Mr. WARDLEasked the Secretary of State for the Home Department whether his attention has been called to the practice extensively carried on in Germany and America whereby wardrobe and lavatory accommodation is provided for workmen at the place of their employment; and whether, in view of the benefit in public health and cleanliness to be derived from such a practice, he will consider the advisability of securing the extension of the practice in this country?
§ The SECRETARY of STATE for the HOME DEPARTMENT (Mr. Herbert Gladstone)My attention has been called to this matter, and, in connection with mines, it has received the consideration of the Royal Commission on Mines. The hon. Member will find their recommendations on the subject in Part XVIII. of their recently issued Report. In the case of a number of trades where the conditions of work make the provision of lavatory and cloak-room accommodation especially important for the health of the workpeople, the employer is now required under the Factory Acts to provide it; and in many other cases such accommodation is supplied voluntarily by employers. The Report of the Chief Inspector of Factories for 1908 notes, I am glad to say, a growing tendency to provide improved facilities for washing in many districts, and the question is receiving the constant attention of my Department.